Police arrest Ichihashi in Osaka

OSAKA (Kyodo) Tatsuya Ichihashi, the only suspect in the 2007 murder of a British woman, was arrested Tuesday after managing to elude police for 2 1/2 years.

Apprehended: Tatsuya Ichihashi, his head covered, is escorted by police through a mob of reporters at JR Shin-Osaka Station on Tuesday during his transfer to Tokyo, where he faces questioning over the slaying of Lindsay Hawker. KYODO PHOTO

The 30-year-old Ichihashi was apprehended in Suminoe Ward, Osaka, and taken into custody at Suminoe Police Station, where his identity was confirmed through fingerprints. He had altered his appearance with cosmetic surgery.

Ichihashi was sitting on a bench in a ferry terminal where vessels depart for Okinawa. A person who saw him called police, leading to his arrest.

Ichihashi was later taken by bullet train to Tokyo. He was to be transported to the main police station in Gyotoku, Chiba Prefecture, where he was to undergo questioning.

Technically he is wanted on a charge of abandoning the body of English teacher Lindsay Hawker, but police are investigating his possible involvement in the murder itself.

The case attracted widespread public attention after Ichihashi, who media reports once suggested had killed himself, was identified in the Osaka area despite undergoing plastic surgery on several occasions.

He escaped from police officers when they visited his apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, in March 2007. Hawker's body was later found inside a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony.

Police distributed fliers and offered a ¥10 million reward for information leading to his whereabouts.

Hawker's family visited Japan several times to ask for help in resolving the case, but no significant progress had been made over the last 2 1/2 years.

The case took a sudden turn when Ichihashi showed up at a clinic in Nagoya in late October for another round of plastic surgery. The police soon released a photograph of his postsurgery face with double-fold eyelids, a higher nose bridge and thinner lips.

This led to a number of other leads, including his attempt to have another operation in Fukuoka Prefecture.

He was also found to have lived and worked at a construction company in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, for more than a year until last month.

Investigative sources revealed earlier in the day that Ichihashi was apparently seeking a passport while in hiding and working in Osaka Prefecture under an alias.

Chiba police seized passport application documents from the contractor's dormitory, where the fugitive had apparently lived until fleeing on the morning of Oct. 11, leaving behind many belongings. Earlier reports said they also found his fingerprints in the dorm.

During and after his stint at the company, Ichihashi is believed to have used the alias Kosuke Inoue.

A source connected with the construction firm, which has not been identified, also said a guidebook for Yokohama was found in the dormitory, indicating Ichihashi may have been planning to relocate there.

Ichihashi, who used the Inoue alias when he started working at the contractor on Aug. 19, 2008, reportedly told the source that he wanted to visit various parts of Japan to see the scenery and said before disappearing that he was planning a short trip with the money he had saved.

Police also learned that Ichihashi visited a hospital in the city of Fukuoka in mid-October for possible cosmetic surgery, before having a nose job at a clinic in Nagoya on Oct. 24.